Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.” Oscar Wilde

It is time, once again, for local elections and I wonder how many people actually stop to consider what is the point of these elections.Subrosahas a dilemma, one which I believe a number of people also have, in that she writes:

“No candidate or activist has been seen during or prior to the campaign and it’s been suggested ‘they’re taking our vote for granted’. I agree. But the dilemma is do I vote for the party which I support even though I consider its candidates to be unworthy of my loyalty? Do I not bother voting at all? Or do I vote and spoil my ballot paper?”

The battleground is being presented to the electorate as a choice twixt Conservative and Labour, Cameron or Miliband, a choice which asThe Boiling Frogcomments is a choice between being hit by a car doing 39mph and one doing 40mph.

Like Subrosa, I have not seen a candidate nor have I received one piece of election literature and the only party for whom I would vote can’t even be bothered to put up a candidate – probably due to the fact the present Witney committee appear to have trademarked the phrase ‘InertiaRus’. On a personal level I shall probably endorse my voting paper “None of the above” and it will be interesting to see how long it will take for this ‘party’ to gain more votes than the winning candidate – if only……….

Presently, the bulk of local authorities’ income is from central government, the bulk of the law and/or services imposed/offered by them is dictated by central government policies, coupled with central government’s subservience to the European Union and the latter’sdirectives and regulations. It is an affront to our intelligence that the word ‘local’ is conjoined with the word ‘election’ when the arguments being put forward seeking our vote are neither local nor can offer a choice of political ideology -and ‘local ideology’ doesn’t even enter the equation!

The only viable course of action left to the electorate, in this benighted system of democracy which is allowed us, is for “None of the above” to win each and every ward throughout the country in which elections are being held.

Just saying………….

Update: Another reason for voting for “None of the above” comes fromIPJonPoliticswith a comment which had I had brain in gear, I too should have made. OK, so there is a party that wants out of the EU, but two questions: (a) where are their candidates? and: (b) voting for that party in a local election will not get us out of the EU – in fact, just like any other party, if running a council they too would have to implement all the EU directives and regulations the same as any other party – and don’t forget, if they refuse so to do then Cameron has made sure it is the council that will pay the EU fine!

Given the fearsome array of tools now available to those who would seek to ensure that this impressive example of our well-founded ‘democratic’ process is maintained howsoever assailed (heavily armed anonymous police officers patrolling the streets, operational military equipment being placed in the civilian environment, faceless individuals listening to our every word, examining our written communications and observing our daily movements) I’m more than happy to agree with you – we need to demonstrably express our concern.

After all, there should be no mechanism available to identify those of us who dare challenge the system in this unorthodox yet innovative way – one would hope.

The ballot is not secret. Every voting paper is numbered and the number is written against your name when you collect it. Unusual votes can be traced (if they want) to the voter. I suppose it was originaly introduced to identify those who voted Communist.